Pentagon Awards $340.6 Million in Defense Contracts Monday

The Department of Defense awarded eight new defense contracts Monday, worth $340.6 million in total. More than half of these funds went to one single company -- Britain's Rolls-Royce (NASDAQOTH: RYCEY) , which was awarded a $182.6 million firm-fixed-price requirements contract modification to continue performing maintenance work on Air Force C-130J aircraft propulsion systems through Jan. 31, 2015. But there were a handful of smaller winners as well:

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) was awarded a $23.7 million contract modification funding research and development efforts for the U.S. Air Force's Hardened Materials Research and Survivability Studies Program. Specifically, General Dynamics will be working on hardening aircraft to protect pilots not just from anti-aircraft fire and other material hazards, but from "photonic light and electromagnetic energy" as well. This contract will now run through Jan. 21, 2016.

L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) was awarded a $13.8 million option exercise to continue performing maintenance on F-16, F-18, H-60, and E-2C aircraft operated by U.S. Navy "adversary squadrons." Adversary squadrons consist of U.S. pilots flying either foreign-built planes or older U.S. planes, and flying them in styles similar to those used by foreign air forces. The unusual "air forces" involved in this training require specialized knowledge in how to maintain their planes. Wednesday's award extends L-3's contract to maintain these planes through October.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) was awarded $12.5 million task order to support the Navy's office of Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems, Naval Enterprise Networks, providing program management, financial management, and administrative support through July.

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